Noticeboard

Dr Abbie Lear - We are delighted to announce that Dr Lear, who was previously with us as a trainee has re-joined the practice to complete her training. She will be working three days a week, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

LEARNING DISABILITY FRIENDLY. We have been awarded Learning Disability Friendly status. This means all our staff have completed appropriate training and the clinical services that we provide for patients with Learning Disabilities have been recognised by our commissioners as being of a very high standard.

EAR WAX REMOVAL SERVICE. We are now hosting a private ear wax removal service. To book an appointment click here

GET HAMPSHIRE WALKING. A new initiative to promote walking locally. For more information download the leaflet Health Walks A5 leaflet Final.pdf. And for more information on fitness classes and activities in general click here

Services offered at the practice

In addition to appointments with doctors for the management of illness, other services are available. Please ask Reception.

Treatment Room: By appointment. The nurses provide wound care, dressing changes and carry out minor procedures such as removal of sutures and ear syringing.

Health Screening: All newly registered patients are offered an appointment for a health check with a nurse.

Family Planning/Contraception: Routine and emergency contraception advice and treatment is offered by appointment. For emergency contraception you should ask for an appointment with the duty doctor and you will be seen same day. Fitting of intra-uterine contraceptive devices (IUCDs) as well as sub-dermal contraception is also undertaken at the surgery, although in some cases, you may be referred to the Department of Sexual Health at Andover Health Centre.

Well Woman Clinic: Routine health check and cervical smear screening.

Well Man Clinic: Routine health check.

Cervical Smears: By appointment in routine surgery or Well Woman Clinic. Every woman who has ever been sexually active should have a smear each 3 years from age 25-49 and then each 5 years until age 64.

Routine Adult Immunisations: e.g. Flu, Pneumonia (for risk groups)

Baby Clinic/Immunisations: A weekly clinic is held at the Surgery. The immunisation schedule is available on this page

Immunisation for Foreign Travel: Please ask for advice at least 6 weeks before departure, when a personal schedule will be prepared for you. There is a fee payable in advance for some travel immunisations, which are not a NHS provision. This Practice is a designated Yellow Fever Centre (Non-NHS service).

Chronic Disease Management: Diabetes, Respiratory (including asthma and COPD) and Coronary Heart Disease clinics are provided by the practice nurses. Monitoring of high blood pressure and epilepsy are within routine bookings.

Minor Surgery:Minor operations are carried out within the practice.

Health Promotion: Appointments can be made with the Practice Nurses for dietary and general health advice.

Antenatal/Postnatal Care: Antenatal clinics are run by Community Midwives and may ask GPs for advice as necessary. Choice of location for confinement is discussed during antenatal care. Midwives or GPs may recommend hospital clinic attendances with a specialist doctor in some cases.

Following the birth, Community Midwives will provide care before handling over to Health Visitors for further infant care and advice. Postnatal maternal and baby checks are conducted by doctors at Charlton Hill Surgery approximately six weeks after the birth.

Health Visitors: The Health Visitors provide help and advice for young mothers and conduct child health clinics for the under 5’s. Telephone: 01962 763993

Vaccination Schedule

Travel Information

If you require any vaccinations relating to foreign travel you need to complete the form below. This will give us your travel arrangements and will include which countries and areas within countries that you are visiting to determine what vaccinations are required. There is further information about countries and vaccinations required on the link below

It is important that we have this form AT LEAST 8 WEEKS BEFORE you travel - as you may require more than one appointment to administer vaccines and some vaccines have to be ordered as they are not a stock vaccine. Your final vaccines need to be given at least 2 weeks before you travel to allow the vaccines to work.

Some travel vaccines are ordered on a private prescription and these incur a charge over and above the normal prescription charge. This is because not all travel vaccinations are included in the services provided by the NHS.

Travel Health Questionnaire

To help us offer the appropriate advice, please download the form below, complete electronically and email to whccg.charltonhillsurgery@nhs.net. We will then contact you to arrange a convenient time for one of our nursing team to discuss with you what you may need in the way of vaccinations. You will be advised of any costs (they are shown on the form that you'll need to complete). An appointment to administer vaccinations will be arranged once you have decided to proceed.

Our local NHS stop smoking service is Quit4Life, providing friendly, effective help for anyone who would like to kick the habit. No matter how long you have been smoking or how many times you have tried before you will benefit from giving up - and Quit4Life makes it a lot easier!

Even if you are not sure whether you are ready to make a quit attempt we would urge you to contact them to find out what they offer. Their friendly advisers can guide you through the whole process, talking through any concerns along the way - getting ready to quit, discussing medication options, arranging the supply of your chosen stop smoking products and providing regular support and encouragement until you are confident about remaining smoke free. Feedback from regular monitoring of your carbon monoxide levels will also help demonstrate how quickly your body starts to benefit from stopping completely.

They offer both one-to-one appointments and drop-in clinics at venues all over the locality. If you are unable to attend regular sessions you can enrol for telephone support, with your adviser ringing you at agreed times.

Ear Care/Ear Syringing

If there is a build up of wax in your ear(s) please read the following self-help guide as you may not need an appointment.

What is ear wax?

Ear was is normal and is produced to form a protective coating over the skin in the ear canal. Ears are normally self-cleaning - the movement of your jaw whilst eating and talking helps to move the wax along the canal where it will usually fall out naturally without you noticing.

Why is my ear blocked with wax?

The amount of ear wax produced varies from person to person; some people produce excessive amounts which can lead to a blockage in the ear canal. You are more likely to develop a blockage of wax in the canal if you:

use cotton ear buds to clean the ear as this pushes the wax deeper into the canal

wear a hearing aid, ear plugs or use in-ear speakers for i-pods or similar - as these can all interfere with the natural process of wax expulsion

have abnormally narrow ear canals

have a particularly hairy ear canal

are elderly – because the ear wax you produce is drier and harder

have a dry skin problem such as eczema or psoriasis

Advice to help you manage and prevent ear wax blockage

Ear wax only becomes a problem if it causes deafness, discomfort or if your health professional requires a clear view of your ear drum. Deafness is only caused when the entire canal is filled with wax and there is practically no reduction in hearing until this total blockage occurs.

If you experience any of the following, you should seek advice from your GP or Practice Nurse

pain

discharge or bleeding from the ear

sudden deafness or buzzing

foreign bodies in the ear

dizziness

If you are not experiencing any of the above, you should manage the blockage by using olive oil drops.

Olive Oil Drops The following needs to be done 2 or 3 times daily for 14 days.

·Lie on your side with the affected ear uppermost

·Pull the outer ear gently backwards and upwards to straighten the ear canal

·Put 2-3 drops of olive oil into the affected ear(s) and gently massage just in front of the ear

·Stay laying on your side to allow the wax to soak in for around 10 minutes

·Afterwards, wipe away any excess oil but do not plug your ear with cotton wool as this simply absorbs the oil

Your hearing problem may initially worsen after first starting to use the olive oil drops; this is why we advise you to concentrate on treating one ear at a time if both ears are blocked with wax.

In most cases, after 14 days, the wax will have softened sufficiently to encourage the wax to come out without further intervention. However, if you feel your hearing is still impaired, you should follow the instructions below for bulb syringing.

If your ears are regularly becoming blocked with wax, we suggest you use olive oil drops, as above, around once per week to keep the wax soft and encourage the natural process of wax expulsion.

If having used olive oil for 14 days you still have wax in your ear, you should use bulb syringing.

Thereare now a number of over-the-counter bulb syringe kits available from pharmacies. These contain a wax softener as drops which you use for 3-4 days and a small bulb syringe to enable you to remove the wax from your ear canals yourself. They can easily be purchased from your pharmacy or online by searching for ‘ear bulb syringe’ e.g Acu-Life bulb ear syringe, Otex express combi pack or Macks Wax Away earwax removal system. The special ear syringes are designed to create enough pressure to clear wax out of the ear without causing damage to the ear drum. It is very important to use hand-temperature, tepid body temperature water for this process having used olive oil or the drops in the previous days. Prolonged use of the drops in the over-the-counter preparations other than olive oil can cause irritation and soreness and should not be used for more than a few days at a time.

If having used olive oil drops for 14 days and bulb syringing for a further 4 days, your hearing remains impaired then you should should ask for an appointment with the health care assistant for ear syringing. This appointment will take place at the GP Access Hub located at Andover War Memorial Hospital and run by Mid Hampshire Healthcare Limited. This service can only be offered if you have had ear syringing without problem in the past; you have no ear pain; you have had no previous surgery on your ears and you are over 16 years of age.

Ear Syringing – is only usually considered if the above recommendations have proved to be unsuccessful. Ear wax needs to be softened as above for 14 days before attempting to syringe. Although the risks are low and our nurses are specially trained to perform this procedure, there is still a small chance (thought to be around 1 in 1000) of complications occurring - such as a perforated ear drum, middle ear infection, external canal infection or causing ringing in the ear (tinnitus).